336 - PHILOSOPHICAL TRANSACTIONS. [aNNO 1747- 



scales:* its flesh is whiter than veal ; whence the name belluga, or the white fish : 

 and affords a much more delicious dish-|- than sturgeon. Of its row or spawn is 

 made the caviar ; and some are found so large as to yield from 156 to 200 weight 

 of it. They are found in greatest plenty, and especially those of the largest size,;*: 

 in the river Volga, about the city of Astracan.'^ Stralenberg says, he saw one 

 caught in this river §6 feet long and 18 feet thick ; and takes them to be the 

 largest river fish in the world. They are likewise found in other rivers, as the 

 Don, and those that flow into the Baltic and Caspian seas. 



Mr. C. is not certainly informed, neither do authors agree, in what part of 

 the fish this stone is found ; Stralenbergh says in the head and stomach; some || 

 say in the air bladder ; others in a particular bag near the anus or inferior gut ; 

 others again in still different parts. It is found in both sexes, but oftenest in 

 the male, and of all ages ; but is very rare and scarce, for in a thousand fish it 

 often happens that not one stone is found. 



Hence it would appear that these stones are preternatural to the fish ; perhaps 

 morbid productions, just as the stone in the human bladder, notwithstanding its 

 curious and regular form ; probably the food of the fish, the situation of the 

 parts in which it is generated, and many other circumstances, may contribute to 

 this uniformity of appearance. 



A little of this stone scraped, and laid on a hot iron, gave a faint urinous 

 smell, and calcined into a light, greyish, insipid earth. Had it been a real ani- 

 mal substance, or a constituent part of the animal, its smell would probably have 

 at once discovered it. 



The natives about the Volga very much esteem this stone for its virtues, being in 

 great reputation to promote delivery. The common people take from 10 grs. to 30 

 40, or even 6o, scraped fine in a little water, 2, 3, or 4 times in 24 hours, when 

 the case is dangerous. It is also highly commended as a diuretic and lithontrip- 

 tic ; and this not only among the common people, but among such as are more 

 capable of informing themselves of its effects. 



^n Occulta tion of Cor Leonis by the Moon, on Thursday, March 12, 1747, 

 observed in Surrey-Street, Strand, London, with a Rejecting Telescope, made 

 by Mr. Short, F.R.S. which magnified about lOO times. Communicated to 

 the Royal Society by J. Bevis, M. D. N° 483, p. 455. 



Apparent Time. 

 1747, March 12'' 8*" 24™ 19' The star immerged into the dark limb. 



* Stralenbergh's History of Siberia. — Orig. f CruU's History of Russia. — Orig. 



J Stralenberg, ibid. — Orig. § CruU's History of Russia. — Orig. 



II Dr. Cook's Letter.— Orig. 



